Hog producers from Arras, B.C., to Zhoda, Man., can have the clinical insight of eight of the world’s top reproductive veterinary scientists on their own farm.
Reproductive Management of Pigs is a new software program on compact disk that reveals the mysteries of hog reproduction.
There are 1,400 pages of clinical information in multiple databases and full action video clips.
The depth of knowledge should be daunting, but the program is user friendly to the point of making the complex nature of porcine reproduction seem as simple as slipping on a wet barn floor.
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Diagnosis of reproductive health problems is one of the most difficult tasks when raising livestock.
Often, the difficulties the animals may be having are not evident and require investigation. They usually appear as herd statistics that affect the bottom line of a balance sheet and may even go unnoticed.
Herd health problems such as incorrect weaning or early culling of sows are often subtle and can have a myriad of sources.
But these and hundreds of other problems can be the difference between showing a profit and a loss.
RMP lets the user identify the problem, if it is known, and investigate possible sources.
The Solving Known Problems section guides the user through a menu of choices that provide possible solutions and cross references with more information in a step-by-step process that is easy to navigate.
The software really shines in the Identifying and Solving Known Problems section. The producer may know that herd production is down, but may not know why.
The software guides the producer through a herd diagnosis process that begins by asking questions. The “decision tree” might work something like this: if a problem suspected in sows and weaning is taking place at less than three weeks of age; and less than 23.9 pigs are weaned by sows annually; and the average litter size is 9.8 pigs; with a preweaning mortality of 10 percent or more; then eight possible outcomes are presented with 33 separate solutions.
There are also guides to herd breeding management, which deal with long-term development issues. The guides provide information of best practices for all stages of pig development and information based on clinical data in the databases.
Topics include:
- Gilts from selection to puberty and first mating.
- Mating, including estrus detection, timing, frequency, insemination and natural techniques.
- Boars from libido issues to semen collection and processing.
- Pregnancy, including farrowing rates, litter sizes, and failure.
- Farrowing, pre and post farrowing issues.
- Lactation and weaning.
- Weaning to estrus periods.
- Culling.
The Production Modifiers package is also useful. It addresses nutrition, seasonal and climatic effects, and the use of hormone treatments and their effect on herd reproduction.
Videos show how to properly artificially inseminate a sow, collect semen from a boar and how to recognize the signs of estrus.
Target figures provide producers with a benchmark they can use to measure their own production. They are also told when radical intervention may be required to correct severe problems.
The keyword search function and the bookmark system give quick access to information. The bookmark is similar to that on an internet web browser and is familiar to most computer users.
Four hundred graphics, diagrams and charts illustrate complex issues.
The authors include experts from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, including Phil Thacker from the University of Saskatchewan, who is well known to many prairie producers for his research in nutrition, preweaning mortality and culling.
The software costs $375 and can be used on PCs and Macintosh.
If you have a PC, the minimum requirements are a Pentium processor of 233 MHz or higher, 32 Mb of RAM, 8xCD ROM, Windows 95 or higher.
Macintosh users must have a Power PC processor of 200 MHz or better, 32 Mb of RAM, 8xCD, Mac OS 7.5 or greater.
The software ran quickly on both a 300 MHz Macintosh laptop with an assigned 32 Mb of RAM and a 333 MHz PC with 96 MHz of RAM. It was slightly slower when tested on a 160 MHz PC with 48 Mb of RAM, but the software was still usable and provided little frustration except when running video clips, which required more than 30 seconds to load. This shouldn’t be a problem, since the videos are such a small part of the program.
Reproductive Management of Pigs is a well thought out, well designed wealth of information.
For more information, visit www.susmultimedia.com or call Thacker at 306-966-4159.
